Oriental Pearl Tower (Dongfang Mingzhu Guangbo Dianshi Ta) Tours

The Oriental Pearl TV Tower once used to be the highest building in Shanghai, and it's still up there. It's certainly one of the most hyperbolic and striking features of the horizon. Many people hate it; others have developed an odd affection for its bulbous form.

The design aside (it has been compared to the sound of pearls, large and small, dropping onto a jade plate - a conceit borrowed from a poem), the tower has some pretty impressive stats. It's 468 m (1,535 ft) high and the third highest TV tower in the world - the highest in Asia. Only Jin Mao Tower and the World Finance Center dwarf it on Shanghai's horizon.

You can take a ride up the lifts to its observation deck - choose from the reasonable height or the vertigo level.

Practical Info

The TV Tower is in the Pudong District, facing the Bund. It's close to its big brothers, the Jin Mao Tower and the World Finance Center. To get there, take Line 2 of the Metro to the Lujiazui stop.